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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848204">Hatstall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/F00PY/pseuds/F00PY'>F00PY</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Analogical Hogwarts [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Descriptions of Anxiety, Descriptions of using pain as a coping mechanism, Established Friendship, Gen, Genius! Logan, Harry potter verse, Hatstalls (Harry Potter), Hogwarts AU, Hogwarts Hat, Magic, References to bad backstory, Self-conscious!Logan, Self-conscious!Virgil, Sherlock-like!Logan, Sorting, Virgil freaking out, analogical - Freeform, barely edited, mentions of child abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:20:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,997</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/F00PY/pseuds/F00PY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The castle swam around him and Virgil grabbed the brick behind him, hand slipping from his mouth to scratch against the uneven stone. He closed his eyes and quietly attempted to steady his breathing, a dance he was both used to and one he would never truly learn. </p><p>“The sorting ceremony will be quite quick,” Logan said quietly. </p><p>The mere sturdiness of his voice kept Virgil from falling apart. He opened one eye and glanced over at him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders mentioned, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Logic | Logan Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Analogical Hogwarts [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>226</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hatstall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His middle finger was bleeding again. And, like always, Virgil found he cared just little enough to leave the finger in his mouth, letting the sharp metal tang slide across his tongue and center the raging butterflies threatening to crawl out his mouth. </p><p>The castle swam around him and Virgil grabbed the brick behind him, hand slipping from his mouth to scratch against the uneven stone. He closed his eyes and quietly attempted to steady his breathing, a dance he was both used to and one he would never truly learn. </p><p>“The sorting ceremony will be quite quick,” Logan said quietly. </p><p>The mere sturdiness of his voice kept Virgil from falling apart. He opened one eye and glanced over at him. </p><p>Logan looked like every one of the preppy white kids Virgil saw heading to their private school while he shuffled to the public one. His brown hair was combed back, fair skin without blemishes, and each article of clothing had been perfectly tailored to him. </p><p>But his dark blue eyes told a different story. They were older than Virgil was used to seeing on a child and held a sadness he only ever saw when he looked in the mirror. </p><p>“I know that,” Virgil muttered. He glared at Logan. “You knowing why I’m afraid at all times is both helpful and terrifying.”</p><p>Logan’s lips quirked slightly, but it couldn’t be called a smile. That was another thing Virgil saw of himself in Logan; the frown amidst a parade of grins and smirks. A part of him wondered what Logan looked like when his face truly lit up and how Virgil could make him do it. </p><p>The other part knew he wouldn’t have enough time to discover that fact before Logan left him. </p><p>“I hope it’s more on the helpful side.” Logan studied him for a moment. “Did Roman explain to you what the sorting ceremony is?”</p><p>“Old hat,” Virgil responded. Somehow, this talking, usually something he hated, was helping to calm him and steady his breathing. “But it’s in front of everyone and I can’t stop- what if it can’t decide where to put me and I-”</p><p>“That’s happened before,” Logan said conversationally, which did nothing to help Virgil's growing nerves. “Professor McGonagall, for example, holds the longest record of the hat debating which house she belongs in. It took it five and a half minutes, which gave her the title Hatstall.” Logan looked over at Virgil kindly. “It hasn’t been broken since McGonagall was eleven.”</p><p>Virgil let the words register within him, trying to convince himself that they were the truth, rather than the detailed images flashing before his eyes. The chances of him becoming a Hatstall were low and apparently didn’t mean anything in the long run. What if he ruined the hat? His mom always said he had a strange ability to destroy unbreakable things. Was it possible-</p><p>“The hat,” Logan said gently, “has been placed under several spells which allow it to maintain in top shape. Without these spells, it would have disintegrated long ago.”</p><p>“How did you…?”</p><p>“Your fingers,” Logan told him. “They were curving in a specific way that allowed me to make the hypothesis that you were imagining holding the hat. Then a look of panic crossed your face and the fingers stopped curv-” He cut himself off with a cough. “My apologies. I tend to go on rants without thinking.”</p><p>“It’s fine.” Virgil looked him straight in the eye. “It’s actually calming. I like listening to you.”</p><p>A faint blush spread across the genius’s cheeks and he looked away from Virgil. The boy opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. </p><p>“I find I quite enjoy your company.”</p><p>Heat spread over Virgil's face and suddenly his mud-caked sneakers seemed incredibly interesting. He traced the outer edge of one with his eyes, trying not to think about the kindness of the boy in front. </p><p><i>It won’t last,</i> Virgil reminded himself. <i>He’ll start nice, but then he’ll fall in with a different crowd and forget about you.</i></p><p>
  <i>It’s what they all do.</i>
</p><p>Still, there was nothing wrong with enjoying it while it lasted. </p><p>Silence fell between the two of them. It wasn’t awkward. There was no feeling of a need to talk, to fill the space with meaningless conversation in the desperate holes to grasp onto something real. The quiet itself both seemed to speak measures and say nothing at all.</p><p>It was something Virgil had never experienced with someone else; everyone in his life was always so incredibly loud. Roman, his mother, his father back when he was alive. Everything was noise, every quiet spot needed to be filled, every mouth moving. </p><p>It was exhilarating to find someone who enjoyed the silence as much as he did. </p><p>It was broken with the curt voice of Professor McGonagall as she called for the first years to follow her. Virgil swallowed loudly. His thumb went into his mouth and he bit down as he pushed from the wall and slunk into line. </p><p>The skin didn’t break, but the sharp ache of his teeth pushing against his fingernail kept his thoughts from swinging out of control. Suddenly, the idea of anyone seeing him with his thumb in his mouth struck him and Virgil quickly stuck both hands in his pockets.</p><p>He was just starting to get his breathing under control when the doors of the Great Hall opened and shoved him back into the waiting arms of anxiety. </p><p>Hundreds of people stared out at him. They were spread among four tables, which Virgil easily identified as going Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin from left to right. In the middle of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, set up right in front of the teachers, was a large brown hat upon a rickety stool. It’s harmlessness mocked him as Virgil suddenly found himself unable to breathe. A part of him wanted to bite into another finger, but a larger part reminded him that only babies sucked their thumbs. Did he really want everyone to know what a baby he was?</p><p>“Breathe on my count,” Logan mumbled, making Virgil jump. ”Ready?”</p><p>Virgil nodded silently. </p><p>“In, 2, 3, 4, Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 In…” </p><p>At first, Virgil wasn’t able to finish the breaths in the rhythm Logan gave him but soon his chest rose and fell in beat. His heartbeat slowed with the breaths and he relaxed slightly- not nearly enough to calm him down but enough that he was no longer ignoring blacks spots that drifted in front of his eyes. </p><p>“Thank you,” Virgil whispered. He earned himself a nod in return. </p><p>He kept breathing to that beat, which helped more than anything else he had ever tried and still wasn’t calm enough to get himself walking without a sharp dig into his already bitten fingers. The pain kept him moving forward, towards the silent judging hat. </p><p>Eventually, the lines stopped. Everyone stood there, waiting until the hat opened its brim and leaped into song. </p><p>Then, without further ado, McGonagall stepped forward, unfurled a piece of parchment, and began to read off names. </p><p>“Abbott, Zara.”</p><p>“HUFFLEPUFF!”</p><p>“Adams, Randy.”</p><p>“SLYTHERIN!”</p><p>“Arnold, Mary.”</p><p>“SLYTHERIN!”</p><p>“Baker, Samantha.”</p><p>“GRYFFINDOR!”</p><p>“Berry, Logan.”</p><p>Virgil's new friend? made his way up to the hat. There was brief eye-contact between the two of them and Virgil just managed to give the boy a terrified smile before Logan pulled the hat over his eyes and sat there. </p><p>It took less than five seconds. </p><p>“RAVENCLAW!”</p><p>That didn’t surprise Virgil at all. He gave Logan a tiny thumbs up and the boy nodded back at him- clearly this wasn’t a shock to him either. </p><p>Slowly, McGonagall made her way down the line of names until she called out:</p><p>“Prince, Virgil.”</p><p>Virgil didn’t move. He couldn’t- he couldn’t move, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t possibly-</p><p>Logan’s quiet voice filled his head. He glanced over at the genius and managed to bring his breathing back to the rhythm. Slowly, he made his way up to the hat, and before he could lose his nerve, stuck it into his head and over his eyes. </p><p>Silence. Then-</p><p>“What an interesting mind this is.”</p><p>It wasn’t spoken aloud. It was said into his head, a quiet voice that pushed around his original voice in place of its own. </p><p><i>Thanks for that,</i> Virgil thought at the hat sarcastically. <i>Can’t you just get around to sorting me?</i></p><p>“Not yet, not yet. I need to know where to put you.”</p><p>There was a short silence. </p><p>“Plenty of loyalty. And quite a lot of courage as well, that’s quite promising. An intelligent mind too. But where to put you?”</p><p>Telling the hat to get on with it probably wouldn’t be the proper thing to do, but Virgil really didn’t want to be known as a hatstall and it had already been too long. Besides, this was rather boring.</p><p>“Self-deprecating and humble. You wouldn’t fit very well in Slytherin, so we can cross that off the list. There’s lots of courage here- oh yes,” the hat added when Virgil expressed how skeptical he was, “more courage than most Gryffindors I send that way. But no impulsivity. You wouldn’t do well there, I think.”</p><p>That was actually somewhat of a relief. As much as Virgil loved Roman, he couldn’t imagine being around him all the time. Though, perhaps it would be nice to have a shadow to hide in. </p><p>“Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?” the hat wondered. </p><p><i>Neither,</i> Virgil thought up at him. <i>I’m not smart. I make up problems in my head and then I’m unable to come up with a solution for them. And I’m not remotely nice.</i></p><p>“No, no, no.” The hat said it almost sing-songy like. “I can feel the brains inside you. The imagination. You’re able to come up with problems before they happen and if you’re unable to solve something in front of you, you’re clever enough to seek others.”</p><p>The hat was wrong, but at this point, Virgil didn’t care. Continuing to argue would be much too much work. It wasn’t his job to fix this stupid hat's inability to properly sort. </p><p>“Well, I agree with the unkind opinion. To a point. After all, it takes a true kindness to hide your mother's abuse from your brother. A true loyalty. </p><p>“So where to put you?”</p><p>Maybe he could start his own house, Virgil decided. He could call it the depressing bunch and they’d just sit around and mope about how terrible their lives were the whole time. </p><p>“This is quite frustrating,” the hat said in wonderment.</p><p>
  <i>Do eenie-meenie-miney-mo.</i>
</p><p>Silence greeted him. A low moan came from the hat, one similar to what happened when a football player missed a pass they knew they could’ve gotten. Virgil wasn’t sure what that meant, but his nerves, which had eased with the hat over his eyes, instantly picked back up. </p><p>
  <i>Can you finish up? I don’t want to be known as a Hatstall.</i>
</p><p>“Too late.”</p><p>Virgil froze. That must’ve been what the moan was. The hat recognizing that he had broken his own record for the longest time taken to be sorted. </p><p>Because of him. </p><p>Wonderful. </p><p>“Your loyalty to your brother is unmatched. However…</p><p>“I don’t think you’d do very well with mainly optimistic people for the next seven years.”</p><p>Virgil's nose rumpled with disgust. He could handle an optimistic person. In fact, he generally liked the more cheery smiley bunch. With moderation. </p><p>He could not imagine living with one. </p><p>
  <i>There we go. Better be-</i>
</p><p>“RAVENCLAW!!”</p><p>The last word was yelled out to the whole room. Slightly unsteady, Virgil removed the cursed hat from his head and made his way over to the clapping blue table to slump beside Logan. </p><p>The genius patted him on the back. "My hypothesis was wrong.” He told him. </p><p>Virgil glanced up to see Logan’s eyes twinkling down at him, in what could almost be called amusement. </p><p>“You were a Hatstall.”</p>
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